MyMarlow interviews James Faulkner

There was excitement earlier this month, when Marlow residents spotted a film crew at various locations around town. We revealed in our Facebook post that the scenes were from an upcoming movie “All Those Small Things”.

MyMarlow was lucky enough to have a chat with the lead actor, James Faulkner, who it turns out has links to Marlow from his childhood!

James’s most recent prominent role was as Randyll Tarly in Game of Thrones (see images) , and he has also featured in Downton Abbey, Da Vinci’s Demons, the Bridget Jones films and much more.

Memories of Marlow

James told us what a pleasure it had been to revisit Marlow, with many fond memories of the town. He told us that he was a pupil at Caldicott School, near Burnam Beeches, and first visited Marlow with his parents in 1956 for Sunday lunch at the Compleat Angler. That was the first of many visits to the town over the years – with James spending much of his teenage years in the local area. He also spent time living in Cookham Dean – at Cromwell Cottage, which is very recognisable and highly picturesque thatched cottage in the village.

James referred to his pleasure at being back in a “boyhood haunt” in an Instagram post showing filming at the bottom of the High Street.

A post shared by James Faulkner (@jamessebastianfaulkner) on Jan 14, 2020 at 3:52pm PST

“All Those Small Things”

Picture credit: Peter Smith

James told us that his character in “All Those Small Things” is a British TV game show host, disillusioned with his life having spent 40 years in that role, despite his original dreams of going into theatre. He receives a letter from an American fan, and it inspires him to head to a small American town to meet her – and so the story unfolds there.

The film company is based in Spokane, WA – and most of the filming took place there, even including scenes set in a British pub, but in fact shot in a local bar there!

The film is written and directed by Andrew Hyatt, and is now in post-production, with an expected release date nearer the middle of 2020.

Why film in Marlow?

Filming took place around All Saints’ Church, in the Church Hall (acting as a theatre for the purposes of the film) and inside the Two Brewers pub, as seen in this photo of James, plus the cast and crew relaxing between takes.

James told us that despite his affection for Marlow, he was not behind the decision to film here. At White Waltham airfield is a specialist film studio setup for filming scenes in and around planes. The film crew needed other shots in a nearby, suitably scenic, location and Marlow fitted the bill (of course!).

More info

It was a pleasure to chat with James – and we look forward to seeing the completed film! We will make sure to keep you posted on details of where and when you can see it, and of course we’ll highlight where our town takes centre stage!

James told us he had also just completed filming a new TV show for Netflix, “The Tribes of Europa” set in 2070, that too sounds like it with definitely be worth a watch. Keep up with James here:

Paul Merchant

About the author: Founded MyMarlow.co.uk in its original version back in 2000 - yes the internet DID exist back then. Brought up in Marlow, went to school here, now has children at the same schools. Quite clearly loves all things Marlow - hence spending nearly 2 decades doing this!